Most of the mediocre elites had either died or been ejected from the continent and, consequently, the outer world treasure. Their bids in the elite competition had come to an end.
Ejection from the world treasure required consecutive losses in every battle fought within the continent. Nearly two-thirds of the elites had managed to win their first battles, qualifying them for the blessings granted after defeating an opponent. The remaining elites had either won or forced a tie. Yet that first round alone had been enough to separate the truly talented from the mediocre, giving the gathered ancestors a clear understanding of the quality of the younger generation from the beyond realm.
It was said that any elite who defeated their second opponent—usually a being at the first turn of the true peak-turns level—had a fifty percent chance of eventually reaching the true peak-turns level themselves. Those who merely tied their second opponents possessed a twenty-five percent chance of becoming ancestor-level beings. However, those who defeated or even tied with their third opponents were guaranteed, without exception, to become ancestor-level beings.
According to intelligence gathered by the ancestors of the participating elites, some of the more powerful elites had not been assigned three opponents at all. They had only been given two.
For such elites, their trials began with opponents equivalent to what ordinary elites would face in their second battles—true peak-turn spiritual bodies or beings whose actual power had been suppressed. Even with their true strength restricted, these opponents could still annihilate an ordinary half-step peak-turn being with ease.
The elites who had already fulfilled their requirements remained outside the continent, granted the privilege of watching the remaining battles unfold.
A great pillar rose into the heavens, while the continents where the battles took place slowly orbited around it. Names and sects belonging to those who had performed exceptionally appeared upon the surface of the pillar. At the very top of the list stood Elisa's name, followed by Solanky. Just beneath Solanky's name was the harvester from the Skyracer Sect.
Most of the battles were gradually approaching their conclusions.
Yet one elite had not even begun his first battle.
Goldie.
Within the projection of his continent, a golden-armored figure stood motionlessly, a massive broadsword planted before him. His eyes remained closed, and he appeared utterly indifferent to the world around him.
The land before him was eerily still.
There was not even the slightest fluctuation to suggest the presence of another being.
Black God, Solanky, Elisa, and the other watching elites exchanged puzzled glances.
Before anyone could speak, however, the ground beneath Goldie suddenly shuddered violently.
The sky above, covered in restrictions and engravings, began to flicker continuously.
Then, without warning, a massive humanoid creature tore into existence.
It possessed four wings, a grotesque body, and an overwhelming malevolent aura. Dark chaotic energy churned around it like a living storm.
This was the clone of a powerful deceased fourth-turn malevolent being from the hostile forces beyond the realm.
Although the clone possessed genuine second-turn strength, its true power remained sealed, restricting it to attacks based on laws alone.
Its original body had once stood at the peak of the fourth turn, possessing all the experience and knowledge accumulated by its true self.
However, none of that could be accessed.
Jenny had sealed that portion of its consciousness.
Without her loosening the seal, its greater knowledge remained locked away, and its techniques were restricted to the second turn.
Even knowing that the creature's power had been suppressed, the watching elites felt their nerves tighten at the mere sight of it.
A second-turn ancestor-level being was still a second-turn ancestor-level being.
Restrained or not, it was enough to shake the resolve of almost anyone present.
The demon looked at Goldie with open contempt.
Then it raised a single finger and pointed it toward him.
The instant it did, the entire world turned stark black and white.
Dark chaotic energy fused with the power of the continent itself, rapidly condensing into a massive arrow.
Whoosh!
The arrow shot toward Goldie at terrifying speed, corrupting the very elements and fabric of space wherever it passed.
But just before it could reach him—
Goldie's eyes snapped open.
He seized his broadsword and swung.
A law-based technique created by Goldie himself erupted forth.
It was a technique born from refining the golden starry river to its absolute limit.
Although Goldie stood only at the threshold beneath the ancestor level, that single swing contained reflections of the mysteries of the true peak-turns level.
Those mysteries had been layered upon one another billions of times.
In the end, they took the form of a vast golden river scattered with countless stars.
Each star contained a fragment of conceptual law.
Some belonged to Goldie himself.
Others were fragments he had comprehended from powerful beings—including ancestor-level existences.
The golden river surged toward the incoming arrow of chaos.
Droplets of golden water scattered behind it, transforming the surrounding elements and space into a radiant golden hue, just as the chaotic arrow had twisted everything it passed into corrupted darkness.
Then the two attacks collided.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion tore through the continent.
The entire space shuddered violently as countless cracks spread across the dome overhead.
Yet almost as quickly as they appeared, the restrictions of the world treasure repaired them.
The demon looked at Goldie and smiled in satisfaction.
Then it spread its wings.
Goldie responded in kind, unfurling his own wings behind him.
The next instant, both figures shot toward one another.
A spear formed in the demon's grasp.
Goldie's massive broadsword descended.
CLANG!
The two weapons collided.
Round after round, their exchanges grew increasingly violent, their battle rivaling that of genuine ancestor-level beings.
The watching elites could barely believe what they were seeing.
Goldie was only a half-step peak-turn being.
Yet he was holding his own against a true peak-turn opponent.
The ancestors watching from beyond the world treasure, however, understood what the elites did not.
Goldie was combining his spiritual awareness with a higher peak-turn conceptual law that he had mastered.
He used the combination to protect his physical body while temporarily amplifying his strength.
The technique demanded an enormous amount of spiritual and world power.
However, Goldie was a calamitous lifeform.
The vast reserves within his body allowed him to sustain such consumption far longer than an ordinary being ever could.
Still, even with his advantages, Goldie was unable to gain the upper hand.
The demon gradually fell into a crazed frenzy.
It beat its four wings.
A storm of feathers, each one infused with dark chaotic energy, descended upon Goldie.
The relentless assault forced him into pure evasion and defense.
Driven back, Goldie suddenly planted his broadsword before him.
His hands began forming one seal after another.
At the same time, his wings wrapped around his body.
The moment the final seal locked into place, Govot—watching from beyond the world treasure—rose to his feet.
Then he began clapping.
He recognized the technique immediately.
Goldie's signature move.
Golden Holy Brilliance.
Goldie's body erupted with blinding golden light.
His wings rapidly expanded.
Then a second, illusory pair of wings emerged behind him.
Golden Holy Brilliance!
An overwhelming radiance burst outward.
The chaotic dark energy that had spread throughout the continent was instantly purified.
The fractured space began to stabilize.
The corrupted elements were restored.
As the laws of the continent gradually harmonized with Goldie's radiant golden light, halos of rainbow colors appeared around him.
The demon's expression changed.
Its dark chaotic energy was rapidly stripped away.
Without that energy to support it, the demon became increasingly powerless.
Behan and Jenny exchanged smiles.
A junior had finally become capable of wielding the Golden Holy Brilliance technique.
Then they both turned their gazes toward Govot.
There was quiet approval in their eyes.
At that moment, countless golden threads and chains burst from the continent itself.
They wrapped around the demon from every direction.
The once-arrogant second-turn malevolent being was completely bound.
In the end, it could do nothing but struggle helplessly within the radiant chains.